UK arrest on suspicion of Nepal torture

LONDON: Police have arrested a man living in St Leonards, in southern England, on suspicion of committing acts of torture during the civil war that divided Nepal between 1996 and 2006.

Officers from the London Metropolitan Police's counterterrorism command arrested the 46-year-old man at a house in the East Sussex town shortly after 7am local time on Thursday in relation to allegations of torture committed in Nepal in 2005, a year before the war between Maoist extremists and the government ended.

The man, who has not been named, was taken to a police station, where he remained in custody while detectives searched a home in the town.

The war in Nepal claimed an estimated 12,000 lives, as guerillas from the Maoist Communist Party of Nepal led by a fighter called Prachanda (''the fierce'') clashed with government forces in a bid to overthrow the monarchy.

In February 2005, King Gyanendra unilaterally declared a state of emergency and took over all executive powers of the government to establish an absolute monarchy.

Thousands of people were arrested in a year-long crackdown by the government amid allegations of human rights abuses, including the use of child soldiers by both the government and the rebels.

''Officers from the Metropolitan Police Service have today arrested a man in connection with torture allegedly committed during the Nepali civil war,'' Scotland Yard said in a statement.